


Exposure

by loves_books



Category: The A-Team (2010), The A-Team - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 11:17:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11125956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loves_books/pseuds/loves_books
Summary: It wasn’t a great photograph, not by any definition. Not something that would ever win a Pulitzer. The exposure was obviously wrong, and it was grainy and a little blurry, shadowy in all the wrong places, but by some twist of fate the two figures caught in the background were crystal clear. Two men, both tall, one silver-haired and one with artfully mussed caramel curls, locked together in a passionate embrace. And one very visible Ranger tattoo.





	Exposure

It wasn’t a great photograph, not by any definition. Not something that would ever win a Pulitzer. The exposure was obviously wrong, and it was grainy and a little blurry, shadowy in all the wrong places, but by some twist of fate the two figures caught in the background were crystal clear. Two men, both tall, one silver-haired and one with artfully mussed caramel curls, locked together in a passionate embrace. And one very visible Ranger tattoo.

Well, at least that explained the wolf whistles and cat calls, and the knowing looks.

“What do we do now?” Face asked Hannibal quietly, feeling a strange numbness creeping through his body as the photo slid from his fingers to flutter to the floor. He stumbled backwards until he could lean heavily against a wall, his chest suddenly feeling a little tight, and his mind started to race with all the possibilities of who might have taken it and what might happen next. “Fuck. What the hell do we do now?”

“Is there anything we actually can do?” On the surface, Hannibal didn’t sound particularly bothered by the turn of events, but Face knew his man well enough to tell that Hannibal was shaken too. “It’s out there now. Who knows how many copies there are, how many people have seen it already. There’s no way to take it back, and let’s face it, we always knew this might happen one day.”

“So we just do nothing?” That thought didn’t sit particularly well with Face, who was a man of action, and his stomach turned over uncomfortably as he glanced down briefly at the offending photo. He’d recognised it as soon as he’d seen it, and he knew the exact moment when it must have been taken. 

It had been more than three months earlier, just before they’d left for their last deployment. A picnic by a lake, nearly two hours’ drive away from base, on an unexpected day off. They’d strolled along the shore hand in hand, just talking about anything and nothing, confident that they were completely alone, then indulged in a heavy make-out session by some picturesque rocks that would probably have led to a spot of outdoors sex if it hadn’t already been getting dark. 

Whether they’d been deliberately followed that day or whether they’d just been plain unlucky, and however the photo might have come to be there now in Hannibal’s tiny and disorganised office, it was undeniably and quite recognisably a photo of the two of them. Together.

It was obvious to Face that Hannibal remembered that day too, though he certainly didn’t seem to share Face’s immediate worries. “Do you really want to try to deny it?” Hannibal asked him, moving around the desk to lean back against the opposite wall, shaking his head as he watched Face carefully. “It’s pretty obvious that it’s you and me. Look, I know you never wanted this to get out – ”

“Me?” Face was incredulous. “It never bothered me who knew about us. You were always the one who wanted to keep it a secret, and I only ever wanted what you wanted.”

But Hannibal looked equally startled at Face’s words, a frown clouding briefly over his handsome features. “No, I remember you saying we should keep it private,” he said slowly. “I remember that particular conversation very well. How could I forget it? That was quite a day.”

Face knew he’d never forget that day either, though it had been years earlier. It had been something neither of them had thought they would ever live to see: the day when DADT had been repealed at long last, when they knew they didn’t have to hide their love any longer. They were finally free to be their true selves.

“I do remember telling you our love was no one’s business but our own. You’d been all mine for so long.” Face felt his eyes growing a little misty as he recalled the tenderness in Hannibal’s kisses as they’d lain naked together that same evening, wondering if they should be among the very first Army couples to ‘come out’. They’d always known that they couldn’t possibly be the only ones, but they hadn’t dared talk about it beforehand, just in case things fell apart at the last moment. They’d been so scared that the higher-ups would change their minds that they hadn’t spared much thought for what they would actually do next. 

Hannibal smiled across the room at Face, his bright blue eyes visibly a little damp too. “We talked about how it could affect morale in the regiment,” he recalled softly. “And what might happen if we weren’t allowed to stay in the same chain of command.”

It was Face’s turn then to shake his head, feeling his hands clench into fists by his sides, though his voice came out in little more than a whisper of protest. “I don’t care about any of that. Honestly, I don’t think I ever did.”

“I wanted to shout it from the rooftops.” Hannibal’s voice had dropped an octave, his eyes growing dark with barely concealed longing, and Face felt a familiar stirring deep in his belly; he loved this man so very much, even after all these years. “I wanted to tell the whole damned Army that I loved you, and that you loved me right back. I still want that.”

Face huffed a laugh at the mental image of Hannibal on a roof with a loudspeaker, though in the very next moment his heart sank as he remembered how this particular conversation had begun. “I think they all know now,” he managed to say, gesturing to the fallen photograph taunting them from the office floor, but to his surprise Hannibal actually laughed softly in response.

“Anyone who truly matters has known all along, and no one else seems particularly surprised so far,” Hannibal pointed out with a wicked grin and a casual shrug, and Face found he had to admit to himself just how true that was. 

They’d always been open with BA and Murdock, and with the General, Hannibal’s oldest friend, right from almost the very beginning. It had only seemed fair. They’d also assumed that most of the medical staff in various bases across the world had long since worked it out after the endless hours they’d spent sitting by each other’s bedsides when one of them had been hurt, and on top of that there had been rumours about them for many years, since long before they had actually gotten together.

Still, this photo was confirmation on a scale neither of them had ever considered.

But Hannibal was right: who knew how many copies were out there? Someone had taken the time to slip this particular copy into an envelope and post it under Hannibal’s office door, at some unknown point during the twelve long weeks they’d been away, and Face wasn’t naïve enough to believe for a second that it was the only one. Doubtless there would be another copy waiting for him when he got back to his tiny studio apartment, and more might be posted up all over the base, enlarged even, in an attempt to humiliate the two of them.

“So, what do we do now?” he asked again, swallowing hard and trying to push away his fears. He couldn’t say why this made him feel quite so nervous. It wasn’t as if he minded everyone knowing he was with Hannibal, after all. Face loved Hannibal more than life; Hannibal wasn’t the only one who would shout it from the rooftops given half a chance, nor would either of them be bothered about repercussions or teasing, but this was all so far out of their control now. “What do we say?”

“Nothing, baby.” Hannibal’s powerful shoulders lifted and fell in another shrug. “We do nothing. We say nothing.”

“John?” Face licked his lips nervously, and Hannibal’s smile grew soft and tender.

“Let them talk, if that’s what they want. Let them make jokes or call us names; we’ll have heard far worse over the years, I’m sure. It’s far more likely that this will blow over pretty quickly, and we’ll soon be yesterday’s news.”

“John…” 

“We do nothing, Temp. At the end of the day, it’s still no one’s business but yours and mine.” Hannibal straightened up decisively, moving away from the wall and tugging his shirt down before brushing one hand through his hair. “Unless…?”

Face felt himself straightening instinctively in response, always so perfectly attuned to Hannibal’s movements. “Unless, what?” he asked, his nerves fading only to be replaced by a growing sense of anticipation as he started to suspect what his lover might have in mind.

Rather than answering immediately, though, Hannibal stepped back around the desk and held out a hand in invitation to Face, who took two steps away from his own wall on shaky legs. He grabbed the proffered hand tightly, letting himself be pulled forwards into a surprisingly gentle yet heated kiss. It was a kiss of love and reassurance and passion, and Face’s other hand came to rest on Hannibal’s hip just as Hannibal’s free arm slid around his middle, plastering their bodies together tightly.

When they eventually parted for breath, foreheads still touching, Hannibal finally whispered his answer against Face’s lips. “Unless you might want to come and take a victory lap of the base with me. Let’s own this thing.”

Face grinned, kissing his lover again quickly as the last of his nerves disappeared entirely. “I think I like that idea very much,” he whispered, and Hannibal grinned right back at him, his bright blue eyes twinkling. 

For a moment more the two of them just stood there together, breathing each other in. Then Hannibal shifted his arm fully around Face’s waist, keeping him held closely against his side, and they stepped over the forgotten photograph to head out into the base together with their heads held high.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt from Pasmore:
> 
> Face and Hannibal are spending a day off together near the base before leaving on a mission and thinking it's getting dark and there's no one around, and they're not going to be alone for a while, share a quick kiss/hug. Of course DADT is long gone, but they prefer to keep their relationship as private as possible. However, someone is taking a photo nearby and catches them in the background. The person who took the photo may not even notice them, but shares the photo with a friend who does notice, then someone who works on base notices a Ranger tattoo and before long the photo is doing the rounds of the base and eventually people work out who it is. The team has been on a mission this entire time and have no idea this has happened but return to find out that Hannibal and Face's relationship is now common knowledge.


End file.
